Languages of Sri Lanka

Several languages are spoken in Sri Lanka due to the massive diversity of the local ethnic groups. The two major languages that are widely used in the country are Sinhala and the Tamil language. Sinhala is spoken by the Sinhalese majority and Tamil is used by the Tamils. Although Sinhala and Tamil are languages from different origins, both share some common ground and have also influenced each other's linguistic evolution.

Experts believe that the Sinhala language is derived from the Indo- Aryan language family, which is in turn divided into two phases of evolution: an old Indo- Aryan and middle Indo-Aryan. Old Indo- Aryan was represented by Sanskrit language used in central India, and while middle Indo-Aryan speech was represented by Pali, the language of Buddhist scripture. Linguists believe that Sinhala originated from a common parent language with English, French, German, Greek, Hindi, Persian and Russian. Over the years, the Sinhala language has undergone evolving phases and likely became several distinct languages.

Due to the strong influence of India on Sri Lanka, the Tamil language is closely related to the Dravidian language family, which is spoken in the South Indian States. Interestingly, Sinhala has about 400 loan words from the Tamil language, and both languages influenced one another substantially.

Tamil language serves as the medium of communication in dealing with important business matters, both on the Indian coast and on Sri Lankan coasts. Thus, the importance of these languages until today is significant both in international business and in the cultural identity of Sri Lanka.

Both the Tamil and Sinhala languages are major languages of Sri Lanka, however, it doesn't entirely mean that foreign people and Sri Lankan should ignore the important functions of other minority languages of Sri Lanka. It should be remembered that languages are the official identity of one's culture and thus, using and preserving the Sri Lankan languages should not be neglected.

The majority of the Sinhala people don't know about Tamil but interestingly, the majority of Tamil and Sri Lankan Muslim are well versed in the Sinhala language. Usually, this is how the communication is resolved; Tamil people communicate only with their native tongue and Sinhala people communicate using with mother tongue alone. Hence, the diversity of ethnicity and cultures of Sri Lanka is significant to the identity of the country itself.

Just like any other trilingual countries, Sri Lanka has several languages that important not only to the cultural identity of Sri Lankan people but also in international companies that are planning to conduct business in Sri Lanka.

It should be remembered that without a good command in communication and understanding, it is impossible to build a good relationship in the community. Thus, when dealing with Sri Lankan languages it is necessary to utilize language translation and interpreting services.

Spanish is one of widely speaking languages in the world. It is always a wise move to attempt to learn it whenever in life you feel the urge. However, speaking Spanish is a tough and challenging task; but eventually it does not mean that you cannot learn it.

While this particular critical requirement of foreign languages or Cursos de verano en el extranjero is real and important, some would certainly argue our schools are generally unlikely being teaching this languages.